Magnetostrictive sensor systems are known from the prior art. They are used in a wide range of fields as a displacement measurement system or for determining a position. The core piece of such systems is the measuring wire that is made of a special metal alloy and that forms a waveguide. A structure-borne sound wave is generated on this waveguide as a measurement signal. This structure-borne sound wave is induced by the interaction between a permanent magnet, which magnet can be moved along the measuring wire as the position transducer, and a current pulse in the measuring wire. In this way, the structure-borne sound wave is generated as a mechanical pulse that propagates as the torsional and longitudinal wave beginning at the point of origin at the magnet and going in both directions on the waveguide. The position of the magnet along the measuring section, formed by the measuring wire, can be determined by measuring the runtime of this wave from the point of origin at the magnet up to a signal pickup, which signal pickup forms a signal converter.
During the measuring process, the wave is reflected at the ends of the waveguide. Since this reflection interferes with the actual measuring process, it has to be damped by a damping system. For this purpose, the prior art provides the open end with a damping part made of a damping material, for example, a soft material, like synthetic rubber, polyurethane, or any other visco-plastic material. The mounting of such materials is relatively complex. To rectify this problem, DE 103 48 195 A1 discloses a damping system that conforms to the type described in the introductory part and that has a tubular damping element used for the assembly process. This tubular damping element has an expanded initial state, in which it can be easily pushed onto the measuring wire. Then, the damping element can be clampingly locked by a sleeve-shaped enclosure such that it exerts a clamping force on the measuring wire and, as a result, is secured on the measuring wire.
While this approach may simplify the assembly and production process, the tubular damping element and enclosure can be pushed jointly in a loose, non-clamping state, that is, simply and easily, onto the measuring wire. After pushing the damping element and enclosure on the measuring wire, the clamping force is applied to the damping part by a shape change of the enclosure, in order to clamp the damping part to the measuring wire. The prior art system cannot achieve an optimal damping effect.